> if you do exit early, you typically only have to make the next 6 months of payments.
Two things here. 1) I doubt that most leases will let you terminate the contract that early, and 2) if you can, you still have 6 months of payments, which if you compare to the loss you made on your car selling it, the numbers probably compare (deliberately).
Ultimately, you made medium term financial commitment and that's a bad decision if you need to exit it early.
In hindsight its easy to look back on what I could have done differently, but I guess that's point. When first graduating, I wouldn't recommend entering into even a medium term financial commitment as things can change so quickly within your first few years in the professional world.
Now people are getting 7 year and even 9 year loans. We live in a time when you can finance a 400$ watch for 2 years.
The renewed focus on chipping away at people’s monthly income is almost impressive.